Fated
by mvdiva
Summary: Inuyasha doesn't know how to sew.


**Fated**

Fate was not kind. Those who wished to tempt its wrath would likely go so far as to say that it was a cruel mistress, caring nothing for the pain and suffering of those who held its attention. Fate truly was a bitch of the worst kind.

Inuyasha cursed Fate under his breath as the needle once again pricked the sensitive pad of his finger. _Stupid hole. Stupid Kagome. This is womens' work._ His fire rat clothing was impervious to heat, but catch it wrong on ONE friggin' branch and voila, another lovely hole to patch.

He sat perched on the same offending tree branch, wielding a needle and thread the old biddy had so kindly donated without the slightly clue how to begin mending the tear. Sango was off hunting with Kirara, Miroku was off doing his version of hunting - trying his luck with the village girls, Shippou was useless at pretty much everything other than being an annoying brat, and Kaede had not so politely told him to take care of it himself, she was busy making dinner. And of course Kagome was on her side of the well doing her school stuff or whatever. He really didn't care, but it would be nice if she could hurry up and fix it. Sewing was really a girl's job anyway. They weren't good at much of anything else. Of course, if either girl heard it, he probably wouldn't be able to wield much more than a needle for a while, so bes to keep that thought to himself.

Maybe Kagome would bring back some more ramen, too. He perked up a bit at the thought, and then jabbed himself with the needle again. The offending finger grew a drop of blood and he flicked it away, irritated. A whole three stitches later, he poked himself a third time. In the same finger. A red haze of rage covered his vision, and wonderful visions of a rain of red fabric shredded to ribbons came fluttering down before his eyes.

With an inarticulate shout of rage, the fire rat jacket went sailing out of the tree to land in a rumpled heap on the grass. Both Kaede and Shippou saw the flash of red and turned to smile at one another across the cooking fire in the small hut. The sounds of Inuyasha screaming several highly inventive curses regarding the nature of the jacket's lineage were probably heard all the way over in China.

"Should I go out there, Kaede?" Shippou asked. The old priestess winked at him with her good eye, and put a finger to her lips as she tilted her head toward the hut's door. Sure enough, seconds later the enraged hanyou burst in, threw the jacket to the ground muttering something about the sewing needle being out to get him, and announced he was going to go bring Kagome back, schoolwork be damned.

He was gone just as quickly but thankfully not as loudly, leaving Kaede and Shippou blinking in his wake. Within a few minutes, they could hear Kagome's sweet, clear voice raised to a ear-rending shrill and Inuyasha's answering yell as they argued all the way from the old well. Kagome was shrieking something about equality of the sexes, and how could he possibly decide that Fate was out to get him because of a stupid sewing needle and what would her mother think when he just appeared and grabbed her? The hanyou apparently had nothing good to say in response, as the girl from the future issued him a succinct "SIT, boy!"

Inside Shippou looked up at the old priestess and rolled his eyes. The pair were now just outside the old woman's hut, and it was nigh on impossible to miss their conversation, carried on each at to the top of their lungs.

"INUYASHA! You are an absolute IDIOT to think that you can just toss me over your should to come back and sew shut a hole in your stupid jacket! I would've been back before dark, and I could've done it then! Do you have any idea what trouble it's going to be for my poor mother to explain to Houjo about her daughter being swept up by a silver-haired half-demon FROM HER LIVING ROOM and dragged through a time-traveling well? Honestly! We were in the middle of a study session!"

"Sure didn't look like a study session to me, bitch! I come back to ask you do to me a favor, and see you gettin' all friendly with that giant wuss! What was I supposed to think? You're supposed to be here with me, helping ME, and there you are, practically sitting on his LAP!"

Kagome let out an inarticulate shriek of frustration, and then stomped through the doorway. Her face was bright red and her fists were clenched and held painfully straight at her sides. She panted for a minute, giving a small watery half-smile to the two as Shippou gave her a tentative wave from where he sat on the other side of the cooking fire. She had barely taken a step towards the small kitsune before there was a snarl, and Inuyasha once again burst through the door.

"Listen here, bitch. Sit your ass down over there," He pointed to an empty corner of the hut before throwing the offending jacket at her, which she barely caught in time. "I'm going to go back and get your bagand you're going to shut up and sew it up. If you so much as move an INCH while I'm gone, I'm going to make sure that Hobo guy doesn't have a lap for ANYBODY to sit on."

For once, his threat seemed to sink in without further argument. Kagome's movements were stiff as she turned away from Inuyasha and curled up in the corner, her thick bangs covering her face. "Go get the needle and thread, please." She said. Inuyasha gave a self-satisfied snort, and was out the door in a blur.

As soon as he was gone, she pulled her knees up to her chest and buried her face in her arms. There was no further sound from her. Shippou moved to go to her, but stopped as Kaede shook her head warningly. Long, achingly awkward minutes passed. The tension combined with the heat from the cooking fire filled the small room until sweat trickled between the old woman's shoulder blades. Her one good eye turned from its careful attention to the soup in her pot to the unmoving figure in the corner.

Before she could speak, Inuyasha was back once more. The slight wind from his sudden arrival was enough to stir Kagome to attention, and the angry glint in her face made him draw back, ears flattened in alarm. The feisty girl he had left behind had been replaced by this silent, potentially threatening creature, and he almost wished he could bring back the former.

The other two in the room had gone back to pretending neither of the combatants were there, but, like a bad case of Miroku's cooking, Inuyasha felt an apology coming on. Wordlessly scooping the slight girl into his arms, he ran to a tree at the edge of the forest outside the meddlesome duo's hearing and then jumped up to a branch thick enough to support his and Kagome's combined weight.

Aside from an initial squeak of surprise, Kagome remained silent on the stomach-churning trip; displaying no surprise or alarm on suddenly find herself roosting among the birds. She turned her eyes to his, and Inuyasha found himself mentally replayed his behavior of the last few minutes. He definitely didn't need the monk's not-so-subtle prodding to know that an apology was needed.

"I'm...sorry." Kagome gave an unladylike snort but remained silent, only crossing her arms and trusting him to keep her from falling off the thick branch where she sat ensconced between his knees. He didn't know what to say after that. She had already told him that she would've fixed the sleeve when she had returned on her own time, so he felt like an ass for scaring that Hanno guy (who had only been sitting near her as they shared a textbook, and not with her in his lap as his stupid tongue had exaggerated), but his pride was really, REALLY not eager to admit he was wrong .

But, in the interest of getting what he wanted and bringing back peace for however long it would last, Inuyasha sighed and leaned forward to wrap his arms around her frame, dropping his forehead onto Kagome's shoulder. She tensed at first, but relaxed back against him after a moment.

"I'm still mad at you, Inuyasha. Don't think that this excuses your deplorable behavior just now." He growled softly in his throat, and she pinched his knee before half-turning in his arms to look him in the eye. "You know perfectly well that Houjo is my friend, and only my friend. And as soon as we had finished studying, I would have come back and happily fixed your sleeve." Inuyasha rested his forehead once more against her shoulder, and she immediately began to rub one of his ears.

"I know." He said after a minute of her silent ministrations. She continued to rub and occasionally scratch the silver triangles until he was so relaxed that Inuyasha felt himself going boneless with this simple pleasure.

"We're stuck together, Inuyasha," Kagome said softly as he was almost asleep. "We can thank Fate for that." Well, he still had a couple fights to pick with Fate over some of her moves, but whatever, he could live with that. With a sigh, he stretched, cat-like before jumping down lightly with Kagome in his arms. This time she giggled as they landed, but then turned and smacked him relatively lightly on one cheek before heading back to Kaede's.

Dumbfounded, Inuyasha could only watch as she stooped to pick up his fire-rat jacket and her yellow school bag where he had dropped it before heading back up the path toward the hut. His sensitive ears picked up her light voice calling, "That's for calling me a bitch, Inuyasha!" He followed her retreating form, and just before stepping inside, she stopped, resting one small hand on his shoulder before leaning up to kiss him on the same cheek. "And that's for acknowledging that you need me, too." With a wink, she went inside.

He stood frozen, one clawed hand held over her precious kiss as if to keep it from fluttering away. Well, Fate be damned. With a wry smile, he stepped inside - making a mental note to tear holes in his clothes more often.


End file.
